Why the boring places are worth a visit
When it comes to dream destinations, I’m drawn to the exotic. My current location? Cuba. My dream trip? An African safari. We might have end up in Aruba on our honeymoon after considering flight distances, but Rodolfo’s first choice was South East Asia.
I promise I don’t lust after far-flung destinations out of some desire to sound cool. Australia is about as far as you can get from just about anywhere else, but it’s never really called to me. Maybe the fact that they speak English elicits a yawn from my sense of adventure? But by that logic I should be bored by Spanish speaking destinations too now that I’m equally comfortable en español.
Ireland gets its fair share of admiration, and I always say, truthfully, that I’ve been. To Dublin. For a day. My church choir hopped across on the ferry from Wales to see the Book of Kells (I remember it’s a beautifully illustrated religious book, and that’s it), and my main memory of the day is being unable to find a decent pub in which to shelter from the rain.
Via Zach Dischner
I realize that trip didnt really give the whole country a fair shot, but to be honest, despite the rave reviews, I haven’t been tempted back. They speak English in Ireland, after all. Then I saw the Hecks’ fantastic photos from Northern Ireland, and yes, I know Northern Ireland is a completely separate country, but it’s not exactly a huge island. Perhaps I could give regular old Ireland another shot.
Plus there’s my recent trip to Valparaíso to consider. Never having been impressed by the city on many previous visits, suddenly I found myself really enjoying it thanks to finally learning my travel style. I like to call it “make exhaustive Google maps of things to see and places to eat.” I’m working on a snappier name.
And ok, a family member’s adventures in Australia do sound pretty cool after all, although I could do without my vehicle breaking down in the Outback. Perhaps my rule will be that I stick to the bits of Oz that are Google mappable.
The truth is, while there are some places that underwhelm, I’ve had great trips to the least likely of destinations. And I love the hell out of London, which is hardly exotic or unusual and is kind of the original hotbed of English speaking. Maybe it’s time to forget my hang ups and go anywhere my budget – and husband – can take me.
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Enjoy Cuba guys! Great place to visit and the beaches are beautiful. I always enjoy their accent and the locals’ kindness. Can’t wait to hear about your impressions of this unique country, Emily.
We did love it, and I agree that the beaches we saw were gorgeous! I’m excited to share photos and my stories of what we did there.
Ahhhhhh I’m DYING for an update on Cuba!
Soon, I promise!
I love to travel but there are places I have zero desire to go to: Mexico (especially the resort cities), any Caribbean Island (even though my husband is from Puerto Rico), and Hawaii.
And I get what you’re saying about the English language draining the exotic aspect of a place. But, one of my favorite places in the world is New Zealand and my husband absolutely loved Australia (Sydney, Uluru, and Cairns). Both English speaking but exotic as heck.
Hawaii actually really surprised me – I was outvoted on that destination and ended up loving it. And of course we went to Aruba for our honeymoon. But I completely understand that no matter how much other people rave about certain places, for whatever reason they just don’t sound exciting to you. Hopefully if you ever have to travel to any of the places on your list, they end up exceeding your expectations.
Come on, get yourself out to Australia. Yes, they do speak English here but as Jennifer says, it’s exotic as heck. Just steer clear of the Aussies, Brits, Irish, Kiwis, Canadians and Americans, then you’ll feel like you’re on a far flung adventure in paradise
Haha, I’m sure I’ll end up there eventually if only because I’d like to end up most places eventually. I’ll just find myself some nice kangaroos and koalas to speak to.
For me it’s Paris and Bali, I’ve had this discussion with people before and if someone paid for my trip I’d go, but there are just too many other places high on priority list!
On the topic of Aust, you just have to choose the right places to go, the land mass is so huge and so diverse you just have to pick the type of area you’re most interested in (and it’s not that far from Santiago)
Lies, it it still very far from Santiago! Although I think they did recently start a direct flight, which would bring down the travel time to something reasonable. When a couple of friends have gone previously, they’ve had stops in Buenos Aires and Auckland which have really added to the travel time.
If it’s a direct flight it’s close for us! 14 hours is much closer than the average 24 hours it takes to get to Europe
It’s all relative I guess.
Oh no, I agree that 14 hours would be totally doable, I just wasn’t sure if the direct flight was actually up and running yet. Hmm, maybe I should take advantage and go soon…